The IDF responded Thursday to an Amnesty International report charging Israel, and to a lesser extent Hamas, with war crimes in the three-week Operation Cast Lead battle in Gaza earlier this year.

IDF Lt.-Col. Avital Liebovich dismissed the accusations against Israel and stated that the report, and Amnesty International as a whole, are “not credible and not reliable.” Israel provided the organization with detailed answers to its queries, but the information was either ignored or distorted, she said.

Amnesty has a pattern of rejecting Israeli responses, she added.

As an example. Liebovich pointed to dozens of IDF videos documenting Hamas's use of Gaza civilians as human shields. Videos showed terrorists firing from a schoolyard and using medical facilities to launch attacks.

Amnesty International disregarded the videos and did not relate to Hamas's use of civilians as shields when accusing Israel of harming civilians during the course of fighting, she said.

Another problem with the report is Amnesty's use of unreliable sources, Liebovich explained. The sources that were cited as proof of alleged Israeli violations were not expert and in some cases are supporters of the Hamas agenda, she said.

Reports such as those issued by Amnesty this week damage Israel's PR despite their obvious inconsistencies, Liebovich believes. Only some of those who read the entire 120-page report will note inaccuracies, she added.